Digital Practice Blog

  For the extended task I chose to go into more detail on the week three visual design task. This was an activity I specifically enjoyed as I have always had an interest in graphic design but never knew where to start. With the simplicity of Canva it allowed me to test my creativity and have a go at creating my own adverts and posters and after wanting to explore it further in the seminar I knew it’d be the right task to continue with. I chose to follow three of his laws and create digital work that could reflect what I had learnt about his theories.  As I looked further into Gestalt Theory I found that a key aspect is that the larger project holds greater importance then the individual elements, with each small detail adding to the greater picture. This was something I noted as from then on with my piece I only added elements if it would benefit the final product, making the process a lot simpler as I no longer wasted time on the smaller things. I chose to follow his first l...

  Throughout all sessions on digital practice I feel I have learnt a substantial amount of new skills and been made aware of new theories which I have enjoyed applying to the media I am interested in. This began in secession one where we first learnt about digital technologies. We discussed the evolution of the internet and the technologies that follow it, how early on each media format was dictated by the device you owned such as a phone for calls, or a television for films, but now all their mediums are available on a single device. This convergence onto one device is very interesting to me and puts into perspective the generational differences to do with technology which I hadn't really thought about before.  In week two we discussed the ideas behind storytelling, and how vital of an artform it is that ranges back centuries. Although I didn't find this the most interesting seminar, I found it compelling to discuss in groups how the different perspectives in stories dictate ...

“Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.” -Henry Jenkins Some key characteristics of transmedia: The project uses more than one medium, usually at least 3 different parts expand the overall narrative There are public points of entry and users are encouraged to contribute content of their own They often contain some gaming or interactive elements All these elements exist within a ‘story world’ In today's seminar we learnt about transmedia, in simple terms a franchise that stems across multiple types of media. One of the main successful examples of a transmedia is the Star Wars franchise, as this is a fictional world that is promoted and grows through many types of media such as films, comics and tv shows. This is an ...

  In today's seminar I learnt about interactive and non linear storytelling. Cinema is traditionally linier as this is a convention that audiences often expect to see, however there are many popular films which break this cycle. Kill Bill, Mr Robot and Pulp Fiction are all examples of non linear stories as much of the plot you never see or is expressed to you in forms of flashbacks or is never explained. The non-linear storytelling style was made popular through game books, which require the audience to create their own stories through personal choices. This was a revolutionary idea as it was unconventional to what was traditionally popular and with this many more forms of nonlinear storytelling have become popular, such as the films listed or other books which totally rely on the audience to make sense of them rather than the author laying it out for them. For example ‘The Jigsaw’ is a 1962 book that is reliant on the reader to put it in the ‘correct’ order, as it simply loses pag...

  In today's digital media seminar we discussed semiotics within the moving image. We first started by looking at an image of a sheriff's badge to evaluate what we had learnt about signified meanings. For example my group contributed that the physical signs of the badge were simple, however the physiological signs reflected signs about the wild west, law enforcement and police. I learnt this is called a metonymic meaning, a figure of speech where the name of an object closely reflects its meaning.  “We belong to a visual culture adept at the transmission and reception of visual information”  Edgar Hunt 2010 When talking about this it was pointed out that there are very few ‘accidents’ seen on screen and nearly all filmmaking use carefully selected images chosen to tell a particular story. This was something that stuck with me as although it is obvious careful consideration is put into the visual story in films, when you think the iconography of something as small as a...

Today we learnt about visual design and how an object's connotation can affect how it’s viewed. The idea of objects having alternative meanings comes from Roland Barthes theories surrounding connotation and denotation, with denotation reflecting the literal meaning and its connotations discussing what it implicitly implies, which is affected by the viewer's cultural knowledge. These ideas can be reflected in many adverts as often marketers will imbed a deeper meaning in order to ensure a successful campaign. Deeper meaning can often be reflected in four main elements, colour, type, semiotics (the study of signs) and ‘what is persuasion’. This is interesting as it's a concept you can apply to every advert you see, something which interests me personally as discovering the subliminal meanings of texts is something I always want to uncover and learn more about. We then continued and began to learn about Gestalt Theory. This is a concept containing five laws which cover the typ...

Today, we discussed the concept of story’s and why we chose to tell them and in what format. The idea of stories themselves are as old as civilization and act as a commutative way to connect generations through fact and fiction, which still holds power over what we do today.  We spoke about how story’s don’t always need to be complete or spelt out for us as ‘6 word stories’ are equally as powerful. My favourite one I heard in class was ‘Dot in the sky. Dead pixel’ as it opens a wave of questions about reality as well as our dependency on technology. The question of whether we live in a simulated reality is perpetuated by stories like these, reasserting how important it is to keep creating and telling them as the fact that this could be communicated through only 6 words expresses the power of storytelling. Although I wasn’t very good at coming up with my own stories I enjoyed hearing others and found the questions raised about simulated reality very interesting. Later in the lesson ...

  In today’s lesson we discussed key themes related to digital practice and how as a whole digital technologies were developed. Within my smaller group we talked about ‘Network Society’, a theory by Manuel Castell created in 1996, an idea how key social structures within society are organised around electronically processed information networks. This was an interesting theory as we discussed how vital the use of social networking has become in modern society and within that how often we each own used digital communication such as Instagram and Facebook, as the idea of connectivity was highly important to the theory. We also looked into the way that because of the network society, everything is connected via the hypertext enabled flow. I reflected on how vital social networking was for me and it was interesting to discuss in groups as different people held different beliefs about the importance of it. As a class we then discussed David Gauntlets' idea around Web 2.0 and how the inte...